Main menu

Post navigation

Anatole France

Anatole France is the pen name of François-Anatole Thibault, a Frenchman who lived from 1844 to 1924. He was a poet, journalist and novelist. In Penguin Island, he wrote a satire about the history of man. This is what he had to say about war.

“‘Since wealth and civilization admit of as many causes of wars as poverty and barbarism, since the folly and wickedness of men are incurable, there remains but one good action to be done. The wise man will collect enough dynamite to blow up this planet. When its fragments fly through space an imperceptible amelioration will be accomplished in the universe and a satisfaction will be given to the universal conscience. Moreover, this universal conscience does not exist.'”